Drilling of oil wells and the like



May 24, 1932. A. E. ATKINSON DRILLING OF OIL WELLS AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 11, 1930 Patented May 24, 1932 UNITED STATES PATEN'D OFFICE DRILLING OF OIL WELLS AND THE LIKE Application filed November 11, 1930. Serial No. 494,945, and in Great Britain rem, 7, 1880.

In the drilling of oil wells and the like, it is found in practice that the hole may become crooked or out of the perpendicular, and it is a very diflicult and tedious matter to form a l shoulder at the side of the crooked hole in order that the drilling bit may be enabled to proceed in a vertical direction.

The object of my present invention-1s to provide a simple and eflicient method of and means for correcting a hole which has been bored out of the perpendicular and for enlar 'ng producing wells. 4

n accordance with my invention, when it is found that a crooked hole is being bored, a

jet fitting which may comprise a number of radial nozzles or apertures is attached to the drill collar and fluid under pressure is delivered therethrough to scour out the bore already made. The scouring action is started some distance from the bottom of the crooked.

hole and the drilling bit and jet fitting slowly rotated and raised. The dbris will circulate out of the bore hole with the hydraulic fluid. The process is repeated as many times as may be found necessary. After each operation, the drill pipe will be enabled to hang more nearly vertical and the'drill at the bottom of its movement will prepare a shoulder beneath the vertical hole so that a new hole can be formed therein. A similar method and a has, in the illustrated examples, four projecting arms d ineach of which is arranged a nozzle e through which fluid, usually muddy water, is projected from the drill pipe on to the wall of the bore hole. The nozzles are renewable. The upper and lower sides of the arms d have preferably cutting edges f rovided thereon, such edges being forme of suitable cutting steel applied to the arms by welding or otherwise.

Referring to Fi ure 1, g indicates a crooked bore hole w ich it is desired to correct. The drill pipe is withdrawn and the jetting head shown in F i res 2 to 4 substituted for the ordinary rilling bit. The said head is now lowered into the bore hole but not to the depth of the hole g. It may be lowered to, say, a point 10 feet from the bottom of g so that a new shoulder 11. can be formed through which the correct or straightened bore hole indicated by dotted lines at i can be bored. At the said distance of 10 feet from the bottom of g the 'etting operation is commenced, the drill ipe eing rotated and causing the jetting Emd which is under considerable pressure to im- Binge with great force u on the wall of the ore hole and scour and disintegrate the surface material which will be washed awa up the bore hole b the fluid which ove ows at the top of t e hole. As the drill pipe tends to assume a vertical sition, the scouring and disintegrating action is the most r0- nounced at the side of the crooked bore ole which has to be eaten into in order to correct the hole for verticality. During the jettin the drill pipe and jetting head are gradua y raised so that the correcting action can take place right up the bore hole to where the deviation from the vertical originally occured. The operation is repeated as often as may be necessary, the jetting being continued from the new shoulder it up to where the error has originated until the drill pipe hangs quite vertically, when the drill pi e can be removed, and the jettin head su stituted by the usual drilling bit and the latter brought to operate on the new shoulder h. In Fi ure 1, the dotted line 7' indicates the possibfia degree of correction of the bore hole after one u ward traverse of the jettin head, and k in icates the possible degree 0 correction after two traverses.

with drilling bit to produce the vertical 2' through h can When the new wall k is formed, a drill re latter brought to operate on the newly formed The cuttin edges f enable the jetting head I to cut throng any material which may fall 21; upon the tool from the walls of the bore The jetting head may have any desired number of arms d with nozzles therein and may be of any convenientshape. f i

M 'im roved method and means may be emp oye to enable a straight hole to be bored to sidetrack a crooked hole containing, for

example, a-broken bit or'other obstruction, .The jettingfitting may also be employed for enlarging commonly termed a fish.

the diameterof producin wells by scourin out the oil sand aroun the bore hole.

at I-claim is The method of correcting oil well bore holes which consists in jetting the walls of the alread producedbore hole by radially disposed uid jets upon the drill pipe the jetting commencing at a point above the bottom of the crooked bore hole to produce a .new shoulder and continuing upward to where the crookednes's commenced, the said shoulder being extended until the drill pipe hangs vertically, after which the jetting head is replaced by the usual drilling bit and the shoulder.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT EDWARD ATKINSON. 

